IN MEMORIAM
Peter Briggs Peter Briggs, who served as Interim Headmaster of Fort Worth Country Day for the 2001-02 academic year, passed away in June 2022. Peter greatly enjoyed his time at the School and in Fort Worth, and he had much wisdom to share about leading the FWCD community and being a Head of School. A graduate of Harvard University, Peter began his career at the university, working in undergraduate admissions and financial aid. He later served as Head of School at two Ohio schools, Western Reserve Academy for nine years and The Seven Hills School for 19 years. After retiring from Seven Hills, the veteran educator enjoyed serving as an Interim Headmaster. He once shared that he loved the “school business,” and he and his wife, Charlin, liked seeing different parts of the country. Prior to FWCD, Peter was an interim at three schools: St. James’ Episcopal School in California and The Potomac School and Norfolk Academy, both in Virginia. At FWCD, Peter was committed to the School’s time-honored core values and mission. He made himself readily available to administrators, faculty and staff, and gathered information that was helpful to the Board of Trustees and to the incoming long-term Headmaster, which would be Evan D. Peterson H’15. Of most poignance, Peter was FWCD’s leader on September 11, 2001. He led with great compassion and care as members of the School community mourned that horrific tragedy. Cindy Allen, Executive Assistant to the Head of School then and now, recalled Peter’s love of quotes. “One of my first assignments when Peter arrived was to [compile] all of his favorite quotes so that he could share them with folks,” she said. “It came out to be about seven or eight pages …. The first one was, ‘The sole purpose of life is to spend it for something that outlives you.’ The author was not listed. It may have been his own. We shared the quotes document with faculty and staff, Board members, folks he would write letters to, community leaders he met while here, and on and on ....” After Peter's term at FWCD ended, he continued his commitment to school work by taking on an interim headship at St. Timothy’s Episcopal School in Maryland. “We are grateful for Peter’s yearlong leadership of the School during a time of transition. He brought valuable wisdom and perspective to our community,” said Head of School Eric Lombardi. “ His work at a variety of schools was consistently about making a difference, being of help. We can say he lived up to the quote he liked so much: He did something that outlives him.”
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THE FALCONER